SARANAC LAKE — A column of flame sprang up from the MX Fuel propane storage yard behind Kinney Drugs off Broadway on Thursday afternoon. But all was well. This was a controlled burn.

From the road, it looked like the inferno was coming directly from the large propane storage tanks. But it was actually coming from a separate tower tube a safe distance away.

MX Fuels maintenance employee Paul Poisson said they had to change out a faulty valve on the tank. To do that, they have to completely empty it out. They started the burn-off around noon and at 4:30 p.m. he estimated they had around two hours left.

Poisson, along with maintenance employee Styles Arquiett and fuel oil delivery driver Rob Doebber were watching it the entire time, keeping warm by the heat of the flame a couple dozen yards away.

“Wish you could bottle it up and take it home for the winter,” Poisson said.

The spectacle drew lookie-loos passing by like moths to a flame. This happens nearly every time they do a one of these burn-offs.

“It’s a constant flow of traffic,” Poisson said, adding that they let the fire department know what was happening first.

The parking lot of the pharmacy was filled with rubberneckers gauging how close they could safely get.